Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The joy of running in storms

BRUNSWICK,
Maine – I am a preacher when it comes to running in bad weather. For years I
have cajoled friends to get outside during pouring rain, sleet storms, blizzards,
or even run-of-the-mill high winds. (I draw the line when it comes to extreme
heat waves, hurricanes, lightning storms, and seriously icy roads.) Too many of
us look outside at sheets of rain and say to ourselves, ‘Not today.’

I recently
ran in two storms back to back – one here in Maine during a snow storm and the other
in Chevy Chase in a 43-degree rain. I’ll acknowledge that I hesitated a minute before
running in cold rain. But years of preaching had its rewards: You say something
too many times and you start believing it.

I always tell my friends they
should run in rains and snowstorms because they always will feel better
afterward. During these recent runs, though, I started examining why that is
so. Five reasons came to me.

No. 1: You are almost always alone.

Think about it. During many runs,
especially in populated areas, trails are full of other people exercising; the
constant line of people becomes part of your focus. But in a downpour, you can
go miles without seeing anyone. And when you do see someone, there’s almost a
kinship, as in, another crazy is out here. You may even wave.

This difference in a routine can spur
creativity. Patterns of thinking change. The focus at first may be inward,
thinking about how your body is responding to the rain or sleet or high winds.
Gradually, though, in my experience, the thoughts while running in storms turns
to mounting other obstacles in your life, and this is an opportunity to explore
why you haven’t had success – and what you can do to find a solution.

No. 2: You have to know yourself
well.

To run in extreme weather, you have
to prepare both physically and psychologically.

In the 43-degree rain, I opted to
wear thin nylon wind pants, for instance (along with a T-shirt underneath a semi-rain-proof
running jacket, light leather gloves, and a running cap with a head band to
keep my ears warm). If it were 47 degrees, I would have run in shorts. If it
were 37 degrees, I would have put on my insulated running pants. Know what you’ll
need, even to the level of five degrees difference in temperature.

In the snow in Brunswick, I prepared
myself psychologically as well, knowing that while it was beautiful to run
through snow, my footing would be unsure; I would slip backward slightly with
every stride. I ran slowly. I was careful not to give myself a hard time for
running at such a pace, knowing that the experience of being in the snow was
more important than the pace of my run.

No. 3: You are on an obstacles
course.

Bad weather can close off paths. In the rain
recently, my run took me past three brooks, which are leap-able in normal
weather. But the brooks had risen high, and I was forced to stop and look for
new passages.

In one case, there was no way to
clear the brook without getting wet. So I looked for a way least likely to injure me – a deliberate jump
in the brook with one foot while maneuvering with my second foot for mud on the
other side. That brings me to ….

No. 4: You’ll get wet, get over it.

One of the best things about
running in a hard rain is that you are drenched in two minutes. In 20 minutes,
you’ll still be drenched. So why not enjoy it? In a hard rain, with nylon pants
clinging to your legs, it’s one of the few times you’ll be aware of the strong
muscles in your thighs and calves. Let that be a moment of inspiration.

No. 5: You will laugh.

How many times in life can you feel
like a five year old? Running in bad weather brings out the inner abandon, and
the pure joy, of a child playing in the rain. So when you splash in a big
puddle, and your foot feels the piercing cold wetness almost immediately,
instead of saying, aaaarrrgghhh, why not laugh about the ridiculousness of
being outside in a hard rain in the first place?

On runs in bad weather, I will
laugh out loud a dozen times. Fair-weather runs are boring in comparison. So
the next time it is truly awful outside, and there’s not a threat to life or
limb, dress for it and get out in it. You’ll feel better for it.

#6 (but #1 for me) You will find beauty no one else will see (except that other "crazy").

You go from witnessing to experiencing nature. This is enhanced by your #1 - the absence of people. I can recall running in a major snow dump (18-24") on a pre-dawn montreal morning, running literally around mont royal in the road, wherever a vehicle kindly left a track. A city paralyzed by a blizzard and I had it (mostly) all to myself! I remember finding a bagel shop open on Fairmont and running the last two miles with a dozen warm bagels and cream cheese tucked under my hoodie. It probably took me two hours to run the 10 miles and when I got back to the apartment people were still sleeping while I at the first raisin bagel staring out at the blizzard. Later when people got up I tried to relay my experience but no one seemed to really understand, but they appreciated the bagels. That run was one of the things I will always remember. Carpe diem!